Object-oriented architecture for factory floor management

• US 5,398,336 A
• Filed: 07/16/1993
• Issued: 03/14/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Consilium, Inc. (Applied Materials Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Consilium, Inc. (Applied Materials Incorporated)
• Inventors: Tantry, Subhash B., Hess, Richard L., Lozier, Barry A., Mashruwala, Rajesh U.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kriess, Kevin A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chaki, Kakali
• Application Number:
  US08/093,307
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: 395/600, 395/200, 364/DIG. 2, 364/468
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An object-oriented architecture for a factory floor management software system is described in which factory floor entities are modelled as factory objects within a relational database. The architecture includes X-terminal or bar code devices for facilitating user interaction with the system via one or more of the factory floor entities; Application Engines for processing user interaction of events and generating application service requests; and Application servers for processing the application service requests and generating database service requests in response. These database service requests are utilized to retrieve, manipulate and update data stored within the relational database. Communication Managers are employed for coordinating interprocess communication between the Application Engines, the Application Servers, and the Database Servers. Each of these major components are distributed among computer resources that are networked across the factory floor.

Claims

1. An on-line object-oriented distributed computer system for managing a factory the distributed computer system comprising:

a plurality of networked computer nodes, each networked computer node comprising a processor, a memory, and a communication mechanism, said networked computer nodes including separate interface service nodes, application nodes and database nodes;

wherein a relational database is stored on and distributed over said database nodes, said relational database containing factory objects representing factory entities, said factory objects in said relational database representing work locations, inventory, physical resources including machine and labor resources, and logical resources;

wherein said interface service nodes each execute an interface server to provide an interface which allows a user to perform on-line transactions using an interaction device, wherein said on-line transactions affect said factory objects;

wherein each application node of said application nodes executes a communication manager for coordinating communication between said interface server, said application nodes and said database nodes;

wherein each application node executes at least one of;

an application engine for controlling said on-line transactions by said user, said application engine generating application service requests in response to said on-line transactions by said user, and

an application server for processing said application service requests by instantiating and manipulating data segments of said factory objects, said application server issuing database service requests to retrieve, manipulate and update data in said relational database; and

wherein said application nodes include at least one application node executing an application engine and at least one application node executing an application server; and

wherein said database nodes execute a database server for physically updating said relational database in response to said database service requests made by said application server on said application nodes, wherein said updating of said database is performed via transactions, said factory objects being modified in response to said transactions.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said interaction device comprises an X-terminal or work station running an X-server.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said interaction device further comprises a barcode device coupled to a barcode server.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said application server also sends update data service requests to said database server, said update data service requests including all changes to said data segments made by said application server to be made persistent in said database.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein each of said data segments associated with said factory objects corresponds to a database object.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said database server stores a plurality of database objects, each of said database objects being modelled according to a relation in said relational database, and wherein said database service requests are decomposed into invocations of database operations, depending on which of said factory objects have changed, created, or deleted by said application server.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said communication manager routes said application service requests to said application server, and sends an appropriate completion/error message to said application engine from said application server.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said application engine controls when said database is opened and when changes to said database are committed, between an open and commit of said database, said application engine issuing said application service request to be processed by said application server.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said database service request is routed to said database server through said communication manager on said database node.

10. An on-line object-oriented distributed computer system for factory floor management, the distributed computer system comprising:

a plurality of processing nodes, each processing node of said plurality of processing nodes including a processor and a memory, each processing node of said plurality of processing nodes to allow communication between said plurality of processing nodes;

said plurality of processing nodes including a plurality of database nodes, each database node of said plurality of database nodes storing a portion of a single relational database, said relational database including a plurality of factory objects which represent factory floor entities of a factory floor management system, wherein each factory object of said plurality of factory objects belongs to an object class of a plurality of object classes, wherein said plurality of object classes are related according to a predetermined class hierarchy;

an interface server executing on a first node of said plurality of processing nodes, said first node receiving input from a user and initiating a server request in response to said input;

an application engine executing on a second node of said plurality of processing nodes, said application engine being a different process than said interface server, said second node receiving said server request and generating one or more application service requests responsive to said server request;

an application server executing on a third node of said plurality of processing nodes, said application server being a different process than said interface server and said application engine, said third node processing an application service request of said one or more application service requests and generating one or more database service requests to access said factory objects in said relational database responsive to said application service request; and

a database server executing on a fourth node of said plurality of processing nodes, said database server being a different process than said interface server, said application engine and said application server, said fourth node accessing said factory objects in said relational database in response to a data service request of said one or more database service requests.

11. The distributed computer system of claim 10 wherein said plurality of processing nodes includes a fifth node executing a communication manager, said fifth node spawning a plurality of application servers responsive to said application service request, said plurality of application servers including said application server on said third node.

12. The distributed computer system of claim 11 wherein said plurality of application servers comprise a remote object server process for handling said application service request for operations on non-persistent objects.

13. The distributed computer system of claim 11 wherein said plurality of processing nodes includes a plurality of application nodes.

14. The distributed computer system of claim 13 wherein each application node of said plurality of application nodes executes a single remote object server process for communicating with other nodes of said plurality of application nodes.

15. The distributed computer system of claim 10 wherein said fourth node belongs to a first database domain of a plurality of database domains, wherein a given database service request of said database service requests received by said fourth node is a request for access to a factory object which resides on a fifth node in a second domain of said plurality of database domains, said second domain being a different domain than said first database domain, said fifth node executing a second database server, wherein said fourth node transmits a request signal to said fifth node responsive to said given database service request, wherein said fifth node accesses said relational database responsive to said request signal.