Buffer station for stocker system
First Claim
1. A method to provide continuous operations of a facility when an equipment in the facility fails, the method comprising:
- storing a plurality of workpieces that are queued to be processed in a buffer station of the equipment,wherein the buffer station comprises an emergency access for externally accessing the workpieces during the time of the equipment failure.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A buffer station provides potential improvement for the operation of a facility. By storing to-be-accessed workpieces in the buffer stations of an equipment, the operation of the facility is not interrupted when the equipment is down. The workpieces can be retrieved through emergency access port of the buffer station, thus ensure the continuous supply of workpieces for the workpiece flow of the facility. Algorithm for getting the needed workpieces to the buffer station is also provided through a controller or a computer mechanism. The buffer station can be incorporated in a stocker, such as wafer stocker or reticle stocker.
27 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method to provide continuous operations of a facility when an equipment in the facility fails, the method comprising:
-
storing a plurality of workpieces that are queued to be processed in a buffer station of the equipment, wherein the buffer station comprises an emergency access for externally accessing the workpieces during the time of the equipment failure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A method to provide continuous operations of a facility comprising an equipment, the method comprising:
-
retrieving a plurality of workpieces that are queued to be processed from within the equipment; storing the retrieved workpieces in a buffer station of the equipment, wherein the buffer station comprises an emergency access for externally accessing the workpieces during the time of the equipment failure; moving the workpieces from the buffer station to an IO station, wherein the IO station comprises an external access to transfer the workpiece outside the equipment. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method to improve reliability of a workpiece stocker equipment, comprising:
-
determining the workpieces that will be needed to be removed from the stocker for a next predetermined period; storing the workpieces in a buffer station of the stocker; wherein the buffer station comprises an emergency access for externally accessing the workpieces during the time of the stocker failure, and wherein the buffer station comprises a normal access from the stocker for accessing the workpieces during the normal operation of the stocker. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A machine readable medium containing machine executable program instructions which, when executed by a data processing system, cause the data processing system to perform a method for improving continuous operation of a facility, the method comprising:
-
determining a plurality of workpieces that will be needed to be removed from the equipment for a next predetermined period, wherein the determined workpieces are removed from the equipment and stored in a buffer station, the buffer station comprising an emergency access for externally accessing the workpieces during the time of the equipment failure. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
Specification