Component mounter, service supplier, and service supplying method

• US 20040153868A1
• Filed: 07/10/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Sarashina, Eigo, Isobata, Yoshinori, Yano, Toshio, Takahashi, Ken, Iizuka, Akira, Okamura, Hiroshi, Masui, Masuo, Nakamura, Hitoshi, Misawa, Yoshihiko, Hattori, Yoshiyuki, Nonaka, Satoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,142,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/47
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41805 characterised by assembly
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31457 Factory remote control, monitoring through internet
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32226 Computer assisted repair, maintenance of system components
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45026 Circuit board, pcb
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/0465 by soldering H05K13/0469 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 13/0882 Control systems for mounting machines or assembly lines, e.g. centralized control, remote links, programming of apparatus and processes as such H05K13/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4913 Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/5137 including assembling or disassembling station
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53022 with means to test work or product
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53161 including deforming means
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53174 Means to fasten electrical component to wiring board, base, or substrate
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/53178 Chip component

Abstract

A service receiving device (1) is provided for a production facility (151, 108, 108a, 108b, 100) such as a component mounting apparatus on the user side, whereas a service providing device (2) is provided for the manufacturer side providing the production facility. These service receiving device (1) and service providing device (2) communicate with each other in a mutual manner or from a necessary side to the other side through various communication systems including the Internet line owing to a software (161, 161a), so that a service relating to response to a trouble or production including the productivity or the quality maintenance is derived or transmitted according to need.

Claims

1. A component mounting apparatus (151) for mounting a component (15) onto a circuit board (10), comprising a communication device (152) connectable to an Internet line and capable of receiving a service necessary for mount production via communication through the Internet line.

2. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication device (152) is connectable to a service person side providing a service of the component mounting apparatus (151) via the Internet line and is used for monitoring an operating status of the component mounting apparatus (151) by the service person side through the Internet line.

3. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication device (152) is connectable to a service person side providing a service of the component mounting apparatus (151) via the Internet line and notifies the service person side of the contents of a trouble through the Internet line so as to receive a service.

4. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication device (152) is connectable to a service person side providing a service of the component mounting apparatus (151) via the Internet line and is used for a remote operation from the service person side upon component mounting.

5. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication device (152) is connectable to a service person side providing a service of the component mounting apparatus (151) via the Internet line and is used for collecting data through the Internet line for analysis of a trouble, the data including production mount data or device operation data, accumulated in the component mounting apparatus (151) by the service person side.

6. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication device (152) is connectable to a service person side providing a service of the component mounting apparatus (151) via the Internet line and is for installing a software allowing the component mounting apparatus (151) to be operated or for deriving a component library allowing the component mounting apparatus (151) to be operated or another service from the service person side through the Internet line.

7. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 6, for deriving a service from a service information database (26) provided for the service person side, in which service information is accumulated.

8. A servicing method for a component mounting apparatus (151) for mounting a component (15) onto a circuit board (10), the method comprising:

connecting the component mounting apparatus (151) to a service person side for providing a service of the component mounting apparatus (151) via an Internet line; and

monitoring an operating status of the component mounting apparatus (151) by the service person side through the Internet line.

9. A service providing device (2) for providing a service necessary for mount production, provided for a supplier or a service person side of a component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b) comprising a component supplying device (5) for supplying a component (15) and component holding means (7) for holding the component from the component supplying device (5) and mounting the component onto a circuit board (10), or a component mounting line (100) in which connection is made so as to include the component mounting apparatus, the service providing device comprising:

a transmitting/receiving section (305) for performing transmission and reception of information via communication means including Internet to and from a service receiving device (1) provided for a user side for performing the mount production using the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b) or the component mounting line (100); and

a control section (301) used for deriving a service by the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305).

10. The service providing device according to claim 9, comprising a service information database (26), in which service data serving as data for providing a service for a user of the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100), including business information (321), instruction manual information (322), stock information and arrangement information (323) of a mending part, maintenance information (325) or the like, or a service program being executed to provide a service, including a virtual training software (324), an optimization software (329) or the like, is registered,

wherein the control section (301) is used for deriving the service data or the service program from the service information database (26) by the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section.

11. The service providing device according to claim 9, wherein the control section (301) is used for deriving a service for analyzing a problem such as a production time loss or a quality defect occurring in the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100) by the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305) or is used for deriving a service for monitoring a production status if the problem such as the production time loss or the quality defect occurs in the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100) by the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305).

12. The service providing device according to claim 9, comprising a monitoring and analysis software database (330) holding a monitoring and analysis software for monitoring a production status if a problem such as a production time loss or a quality defect occurring in the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100) and for analyzing the problem if the problem occurs,

wherein the control section (301) is used for an instruction of reading out and executing the monitoring and analysis software from the monitoring and analysis software database (330) by the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305).

13. The service providing device according to claim 11, comprising a display section (208) for displaying a graph showing a transition in shutdown time for each cause of shutdown of the component mounting apparatus or in a component holding rate of the component holding means (7) of the component mounting apparatus in order to analyze a decrease in an operation rate of the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100).

14. The service providing device according claim 9, wherein the control section (301) collects mounting tact information including a mounting tact result value of the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100) via the transmitting/receiving section (305), and in a case where it is revealed that a mounting operation of the component mounting apparatus has a tact loss corresponding to an excessive tact extending from a standard mounting tact as a result of analysis of the collected mounting tact information, NC data (220) for allowing the component mounting apparatus to be operated is used for deriving a service for determining and feedbacking an arrangement of the component supplying device (5) or a component mounting order to reduce the tact loss to the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305).

15. An operation analysis device according to claim 14, comprising a display section (208) for displaying a graph showing the mounting tact result value of the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100) and for displaying a graph showing the tact losses of the respective displayed mounting result values.

16. The service providing device according to claim 9, wherein the control section (301) collects inspection result information corresponding to a result of inspection of the circuit board (10), on which the component is mounted by the component mounting apparatus (108, 108a, 108b, 100), via the transmitting/receiving section (305) and is used for deriving a service for transmitting a service for eliminating a cause of an increase of poor mounting based on a result of analysis of the collected inspection result information, to the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305).

17. The service providing device according to claim 9, wherein a range of a derivable service varies depending on a level of a contract that a user makes with a manufacturer.

18. The service providing device according to claim 17, wherein charging is made for a derived service based on the level of the contract that the user makes with the manufacturer.

19. The service providing device according to claim 17, comprising a contract database (320) in which a contract level is registered, wherein the control section (301) is used for registering the contract level on the contract database by the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305).

20. The service providing device according to claim 19, wherein presence/absence of automatic transmission of a service at timing of revising the contents of a service or in a periodic manner is registered in the contract database (320), and

in a case where the presence of the automatic transmission is registered, the control section (301) automatically transmits a service at the timing of revising the contents of the service or in a periodic manner to the service receiving device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (305).

25. The service providing device (2) according to claim 9, for providing a service necessary for cream solder print, provided for a supplier or a service person side of the component mounting apparatus (100, 108) including a cream solder printer (105) for printing a cream solder on the circuit board (10) for mounting the component (15) thereon, comprising a service information database (26, 328) for providing a service, in which characteristic information of a cream solder, result information obtained by accumulating information relating to a printing condition, state or a status which is received from the service receiving device (1) and is selected and put into practical use by the user side, the supplier or the service person side of the component mounting line (100), or/and adequated information by performing at least one of monitoring, evaluation, countermeasures, and improvement on the accumulated information is/are registered as data to be derived by the service receiving device.

26. The service providing device according to claim 25, wherein the control section (301) intends to converge an evaluation result of the printing condition while accumulating the evaluation result as a need in a printing condition database (328b) for registering the printing condition of the cream solder within the service information database (26, 328).

27. The service providing device according to claim 25, wherein solder characteristic information (328a) includes a solder manufacturer, a product number, a particle size, a viscosity, and other items;

and the control section (301) performs retrieval for the product number, and if the retrieval fails, retrieval for the particle size or/and the viscosity is executed so as to obtain solder characteristic information close to the desired solder product number in the retrieved solder characteristic information as a result of retrieval.

28. The service providing device according to claim 26, wherein the print condition database (328) comprises a new database (328b1, 328b2, . . . ) consisting of newly input data and a basic database (328c1, 328c2, . . . ), to which data registered in the new database being judged as adequate or stable is moved, serving as a target of retrieval from the service receiving device.

29. The service providing device according to claim 28, wherein even data relating to the same solder product number, particle size or viscosity is distinctively accumulated in the new database (328b1, 328b2, . . . ) and the optimal data is selected from the accumulated data so as to be moved to the basic database.

21. A component mounting apparatus (100, 108) including a cream solder printer (105) for printing a cream solder on a circuit board (10) in order to mount a component (15) thereon, comprising:

a transmitting/receiving section (205) for performing transmission and reception of information to and from a service providing device (2) provided for a supplier or a service person side of the component mounting apparatus (100, 108) via communication means including the Internet;

an input section (206) for inputting instructions for deriving a service; and

a control section (201), in response to the instructions from the input section, for performing control so as to derive a service necessary for print of the cream solder from the service providing device (1) via the transmitting/receiving section (205).

22. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the control section (201) allows a service person side providing a service of the component mounting apparatus (100, 108) including the cream solder printer (105) to provide a service for retrieving information relating to a characteristic of each type of the cream solder or a printing condition through an Internet line via the transmitting/receiving section (205).

23. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the control section (201) notifies the service person side of a printing condition or a printing state or status selected and put into practical use for printing of the cream solder in the cream solder printer (105) through the Internet line via the transmitting/receiving section (205) so as to receive a service.

24. A service providing method for a component mounting apparatus (100, 108) including a cream solder printer (105) for printing a cream solder on a circuit board (10) so as to mount a component (15) thereon, wherein the component mounting apparatus is allowed to derive information relating to the cream solder print from a service person side for providing a service of the component mounting apparatus through the Internet.