Remote maintenance method, industrial device, and semiconductor device

• US 20070112452A1
• Filed: 01/03/2007
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juntaro Arima, Masaaki Inaba, Takashi Iizumi, Takeiki Aizono
• Original Assignee: Juntaro Arima, Masaaki Inaba, Takashi Iizumi, Takeiki Aizono
• Inventors: Iizumi, Takashi, Aizono, Takeiki, Arima, Juntaro, Inaba, Masaaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,551,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/108
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4184 characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24001 Maintenance, repair
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32234 Maintenance planning
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0267 Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• 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: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

The present invention provides a remote maintenance method, a remote maintenance system, and an industrial device for enabling control and thorough services and billing according to the contents of the remote maintenance operation and the request destination of maintenance and enabling access limit according to the attribute of a service person, access limit according to the device state, and output limit according to the output mode. The industrial device 123 installed at the factory 120 and the operation device 113 installed in the maintenance center 110 are connected via the network 100. The operation device 113 transmits command information indicating a command concerning maintenance to the industrial device 123 and the industrial device 123 executes a process according to the received command information, generates charge information indicating a charge concerning maintenance according to the contents of the executed process, and outputs the whole or a part of the generated charge information to the output device of the industrial device 123.

Claims

1-51. -51. (canceled)

52. An industrial device for receiving a maintenance operation from an operation device connected to a management device, the operation device and a network by remote control from said operation device, comprising:

communication means for receiving command information indicating a command of maintenance from said operation device,

processing means for executing a process according to said command information received by said communication means, and

output means for outputting to an output device a whole or a part of charge information transmitted from said management device, which generates said charge information indicating a maintenance charge according to a process content executed by said processing means.

53. An industrial device according to claim 52,

wherein said communication means holds a user of said operation device and attribute information indicating a degree of art held by said user in connection with each other,

said management device obtains said attribute information related to said user of said operation device transmitting said command information from said communication means, and

said charge information is generated according to said obtained attribute information.

54. An industrial device according to claim 53,

wherein said maintenance charge is surcharged according to said degree of art indicated in said attribute information.

55. An industrial device according to claim 52,

wherein said processing means holds state information indicating a process state of said industrial device, and

said management device obtains said state information at a point of time when said process is executed according to said command information from said processing means, and

said charge information is generated according to said obtained state information.

56. An industrial device according to claim 55,

wherein when said state information held by said processing means indicates that said industrial device is in a production state, said maintenance is discounted.

57. An industrial device according to claim 52,

wherein said processing means stores use history information indicating use of said industrial device, and

said charge information is generated according to a kind of said use history information read by said processing means according to said command information.

58. An industrial device according to claim 52,

wherein said output means outputs state information indicating a state of said maintenance operation, and

said charge information is generated according to contents of said state information which is output to said output device by said output means.

59. An industrial device according to claim 52, wherein when secret information concerning use of said industrial device is disclosed, said maintenance is discounted.

60. An industrial device according to claim 52, wherein when secret information concerning maintenance of said industrial device is disclosed, said maintenance charge is discounted.

61. An industrial device according to claim 52, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.

62. An industrial device for receiving a maintenance operation from one or more operation devices connected to a management device, the one or more operation devices and a network by remote control from said operation devices, comprising

monitoring means for monitoring an occurrence of a trouble in said industrial device, when said industrial device detects an occurrence of a trouble, generating status information for identifying a condition of said trouble, deciding an operation device to be notified of said generated status information, and notifying said generated status information to said decided operation device,

communication means for deciding a troubleshooting method for said trouble of said industrial device on the basis of said notified status information by said operation device and receiving command information indicating a maintenance command on the basis of said troubleshooting method from said industrial device,

processing means for executing said process according to said command information received by said communication means, and

output means for outputting a whole or a part of charge information generated by said management device to an output device according to an identifier of said operation device to which said status information is notified by said monitoring means.

63. An industrial device according to claim 62,

wherein when said monitoring means detects said occurrence of a trouble, said monitoring means generates candidate information indicating one or more candidates of said operation device to be notified of said status information,

said output means outputs said candidate information generated by said monitoring means to said output device, and

said communication means notifies said status information to an operation device designated by a user of said industrial device from said candidates output by said output means.

64. A remote maintenance method according to claim 62, wherein said communication means also notifies said status information to a different operation device from said candidate designated by said user.

65. A remote maintenance method according to claim 62, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.

66. An industrial device for receiving a maintenance operation from an operation device connected to a management device, an operation device and a network by remote control from said operation device, comprising

communication means for receiving command information indicating a command of maintenance from said operation device,

processing means for executing a process according to said command information received by said communication means,

wherein said communication means holds attribute information indicating an attribute of a user of said operation device and condition information indicating a condition of said attribute necessary to execute said process according to said command information, reads said attribute information and said condition information when said communication means receives said command information from said operation device, and permits execution of said process according to said command information only when said attribute in said attribute information satisfies said condition in said condition information, and

output means for outputting to an output device a whole or a part of charge information generated by said management device.

67. An industrial device according to claim 66, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.

68. An industrial device for receiving a maintenance operation from an operation device connected to a management device, the operation device and a network by remote control from the operation device, comprising

communication means for receiving command information indicating a command of maintenance from said operation device,

processing means for executing a process according to said command information received by said communication means,

output means for outputting a whole or a part of charge information generated by said management device to an output device according to contents of process executed by said processing means, and

said communication means receives said charge information from said management device which is generated using charge list information for designating a value for said maintenance.

69. An industrial device according to claim 68, wherein said industrial device is a semiconductor manufacturing device.