COUNTER AND TIMER CONSTRAINTS

• US 20110029984A1
• Filed: 06/15/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Norman, David Everton, Carson, Andrew Charles
• Granted Patent: US 10,768,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/106
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32396 Job shop, batch production system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45031 Manufacturing semiconductor wafers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A method and system for scheduling tasks using a counter constraint. A method may include identifying multiple tasks to be performed, receiving dependency data indicating that scheduling of at least one task is dependent on whether a counter satisfies a threshold in relation to an additional condition, and upon determining, during scheduling, that the counter satisfies the threshold in relation to the additional condition, triggering a scheduling action with respect to at least one task.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying, by a computer system, a plurality of tasks to be performed;

receiving, by the computer system, dependency data indicating that scheduling of at least one of the plurality of tasks is dependent on whether a counter satisfies a threshold in relation to an additional condition; and

upon determining, during scheduling, that the counter satisfies the threshold in relation to the additional condition, triggering a scheduling action with respect to the at least one of the plurality of tasks.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving update data for changing a value of the counter;

determining that the counter value is to be updated; and

updating the counter value based on the update data.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the update data comprises an indication of how to change the counter value, and an update event indicating when to change the counter value.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the update event is any one of a specified state of the task and a specified time of a clock.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the additional condition is at least one of an occurrence of a specified state of the task and reaching a specified time.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the scheduling action is any one of starting a task, completing the task, pausing the task, and resuming the task.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

creating a counter constraint for the plurality of tasks;

configuring the counter constrain using the dependency data; and

scheduling the plurality of tasks using the counter constraint.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein creating the counter constraint comprises:

creating one or more domain variables for each of the plurality of tasks, each variable having a domain;

creating one or more counters for the plurality of tasks;

creating one or more updates for the plurality of tasks;

creating one or more restrictions for the plurality of tasks; and

creating one or more conditions upon the updates or restrictions for the plurality of tasks.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein:

each update includes an update action parameter and an update time parameter; and

each restriction includes a restriction value parameter and a restriction time parameter.

10. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, to cause a scheduling system to;

identify a plurality of tasks to be performed;

receive dependency data indicating that scheduling of at least one of the plurality of tasks is dependent on whether a counter satisfies a threshold in relation to an additional condition; and

upon determining, during scheduling, that the counter satisfies the threshold in relation to the additional condition, trigger a scheduling action with respect to the at least one of the plurality of tasks.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is to further cause the scheduling system to:

receive update data for changing a value of the counter;

determine that the counter value is to be updated; and

update the counter value based on the update data.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the update data comprises an indication of how to change the counter value, and an update event indicating when to change the counter value, wherein the update event is any one of a specified state of the task and a specified time of a clock.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein:

the additional condition is at least one of an occurrence of a specified state of the task and reaching a specified time; and

the scheduling action is any one of starting a task, completing the task, pausing the task, and resuming the task.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is to further cause the scheduling system to:

create a counter constraint for the plurality of tasks;

configure the counter constrain using the dependency data; and

schedule the plurality of tasks using the counter constraint.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the processor is to cause the scheduling system to create a counter constraint for the plurality of tasks by:

creating one or more domain variables for each of the plurality of tasks, each variable having a domain;

creating one or more counters for the plurality of tasks;

creating one or more updates for the plurality of tasks;

creating one or more restrictions for the plurality of tasks; and

creating one or more conditions upon the updates or restrictions for the plurality of tasks.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein:

each update includes an update action parameter, an update time parameter and zero or more update condition parameters; and

each restriction includes a restriction value parameter, a restriction time parameter and zero or more restriction condition parameters.

17. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method comprising:

identifying, by a computer system, a plurality of tasks to be performed;

receiving, by the computer system, dependency data indicating that scheduling of at least one of the plurality of tasks is dependent on whether a counter satisfies a threshold in relation to an additional condition; and

upon determining, during scheduling, that the counter satisfies the threshold in relation to the additional condition, triggering a scheduling action with respect to the at least one of the plurality of tasks.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving update data for changing a value of the counter;

determining that the counter value is to be updated; and

updating the counter value based on the update data.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein the update data comprises an indication of how to change the counter value, and an update event indicating when to change the counter value, wherein the update event is any one of a specified state of the task and a specified time of a clock.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein:

the additional condition is at least one of an occurrence of a specified state of the task and reaching a specified time; and

the scheduling action is any one of starting a task, completing the task, pausing the task, and resuming the task.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the method further comprises:

creating a counter constraint for the plurality of tasks;

configuring the counter constrain using the dependency data; and

scheduling the plurality of tasks using the counter constraint.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein creating the counter constraint comprises:

creating one or more domain variables for each of the plurality of tasks, each variable having a domain;

creating one or more counters for the plurality of tasks;

creating one or more updates for the plurality of tasks, each update including an update action parameter, an update time parameter and zero or more condition update parameters;

creating one or more restrictions for the plurality of tasks each restriction including a restriction value parameter, a restriction time parameter and zero or more restriction condition update parameters.