TOOL FOR REPORTING THE STATUS AND DRILL-DOWN OF A CONTROL APPLICATION IN AN AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20090049345A1
• Filed: 08/16/2007
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globalfoundries US Incorporated (GlobalFoundries, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Moore, Gary R., Wong, Justin W., Mock, Michael W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,835,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/57
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0281 Quantitative, e.g. mathematical distance; Clustering; Neural networks; Statistical analysis

Abstract

Disclosed are embodiments that provide near real-time monitoring of a control application in a manufacturing environment to detect and determine the root cause of faults within the control application. The embodiments monitor the flow of data within the control application during events (i.e., transactions, stages, process steps, etc.). By comparing a dataflow path for a near real-time event with historical dataflow path records, dataflow interruptions (i.e., fails) within the control application can be detected. By determining the location of such a dataflow interruption, the root cause of the control application fail can be determined. Additionally, the invention can generate summary reports indicating the status of the control application. For example, the summary reports can quantify the performance and/or the effectiveness of the control application. These summary reports can further be generated with drill downs to provide a user with direct access to the records upon which the reports were based.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a control application in a manufacturing environment, said system comprising:

a data retriever adapted to access a plurality of data sources for said control application, to retrieve, from said data sources, data regarding events occurring in said manufacturing environment;

a data compiler adapted to compile said data so as to generate, for said events, records of dataflow paths within said control application;

a data storage device, wherein said data compiler is further adapted to store said records in said data storage device;

a records analyzer adapted to perform an analysis of said records so as to detect a dataflow interruption within said control application; and

a summary report generator adapted to generate a summary report indicating a status of said control application based on said analysis, wherein said summary report generator is further adapted to generate said summary report with drill down functions so as to allow a user to link via a graphical user interface directly to said records.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said drill down functions provide a user with additional details regarding at least one of control application status, control application errors, control application performance and control application coverage.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said drill down functions are multi-tiered.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said records analyzer is further adapted to perform said analysis in response to at least one of a specific query and a continual query.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said analysis comprises a comparison between a record of a current event and records of prior events to detect said dataflow interruption.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said summary report indicates said status of said control application over a given period of time.

7. A system for monitoring a control application in a manufacturing environment, said system comprising:

a data retriever adapted to access a plurality of data sources for said control application, to retrieve, from said data sources, data regarding events occurring in said manufacturing environment;

a data compiler adapted to compile said data so as to generate, for said events, records of dataflow paths within said control application;

a data storage device, wherein said data compiler is further adapted to store said records in said data storage device;

a records analyzer adapted to perform an analysis of said records so as to detect a dataflow interruption within said control application, to determine a location within said control application of said dataflow interruption and, based on said location, to determine a root cause of a failure in said control application; and

a summary report generator adapted to generate a summary report indicating a status of said control application based on said analysis, wherein said summary report generator is further adapted to generate said summary report with drill down functions so as to allow a user to link via a graphical user interface directly to said records.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said drill down functions provide a user with additional details regarding at least one of control application status, control application errors, control application performance and control application coverage.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein said drill down functions are multi-tiered.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein said records analyzer is further adapted to perform said analysis in response to at least one of a specific query and a continual query.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein said analysis comprises a comparison between a record of a current event and records of prior events to detect said dataflow interruption.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein said summary report indicates said status of said control application over a given period of time.

13. A system for monitoring a fault detection and classification application in a manufacturing environment, said system comprising:

a data retriever adapted to access a plurality of data sources for said fault detection and control application, to retrieve, from said data sources, data regarding events occurring in said manufacturing environment;

a data compiler adapted to compile said data so as to generate, for said events, records of dataflow paths within said fault detection and control application;

a data storage device, wherein said data compiler is further adapted to store said records in said data storage device;

a records analyzer adapted to perform an analysis of said records so as to detect any dataflow interruptions within said fault detection and classification application; and

a summary report generator adapted to generate a summary report indicating a status of said fault detection and classification application based on said analysis, wherein said summary report generator is further adapted to generate said summary report with drill down functions so as to allow a user to link via a graphical user interface directly to said records.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said events comprise wafer-chamber passes.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said drill down functions provide a user with additional details regarding at least one of fault detection and classification application status, fault detection and classification application errors, fault detection and classification application performance and fault detection and classification application coverage.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said drill down functions are multi-tiered.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said records analyzer is further adapted to perform said analysis in response to at least one of a specific query and a continual query.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said analysis comprises a comparison between a record of a current event and records of prior events to detect said dataflow interruption.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein said records analyzer is further adapted to determine a location within said fault detection and classification system of each of said any dataflow interruptions and, based on said location, to determine a root cause of a failure in said fault detection and classification system.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein said summary report indicates said status of said fault detection and classification application over a given period of time.