Manufacturing method for assembling products by generating and scheduling dynamically assembly instructions
DCFirst Claim
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1. A method, performed by a computer, for assembling a product having components, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing one or more abstract assembly steps for assembling the product, the abstract assembly steps containing variable portions for assembling the product with potentially different configurations, the variable portions including variable parameters capable of representing different component information, text information explaining how to assemble or connect one or more of the components of the product, and the variable portions further including at least one of an identifier of one or more computer graphics images to be displayed indicating how to assemble or connect one or more of the components of the product, and machine-readable instructions for the computer to draw and display one or more computer graphics images indicating how to assemble or connect one or more of the components of the product;
(b) obtaining a configuration model corresponding to a requested configuration of the product, the configuration model including one or more component information lines corresponding to one or more of the components utilized in the requested configuration, each of the component information lines containing at least one of a component tag identifying a component to be used in the requested configuration, a physical location field providing precise placement information for the component to be used in the requested configuration, a property field indicating a property of the component to be used in the requested configuration and a connection field indicating all locations to which the component to be used in the requested configuration is to be connected; and
(c) applying the configuration model to the abstract assembly steps provided for assembling the product by inserting component information from the component information lines into the variable parameters of the variable portions of the abstract assembly steps to produce one or more assembly instructions for assembling the product to have the requested configuration.
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Abstract
A manufacturing method is provided for assembling a number of products by generating and scheduling dynamically a number of assembly instructions from modeling information. The manufacturing method generates exact assembly instructions for the full theoretical scope of the product line. The generated instructions do not require any human lookup or inference. Even exact instructions for configured components of the final product are generated. Which instructions are required to build the final product are derived from a “model” of the product.
70 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method, performed by a computer, for assembling a product having components, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing one or more abstract assembly steps for assembling the product, the abstract assembly steps containing variable portions for assembling the product with potentially different configurations, the variable portions including variable parameters capable of representing different component information, text information explaining how to assemble or connect one or more of the components of the product, and the variable portions further including at least one of an identifier of one or more computer graphics images to be displayed indicating how to assemble or connect one or more of the components of the product, and machine-readable instructions for the computer to draw and display one or more computer graphics images indicating how to assemble or connect one or more of the components of the product;
(b) obtaining a configuration model corresponding to a requested configuration of the product, the configuration model including one or more component information lines corresponding to one or more of the components utilized in the requested configuration, each of the component information lines containing at least one of a component tag identifying a component to be used in the requested configuration, a physical location field providing precise placement information for the component to be used in the requested configuration, a property field indicating a property of the component to be used in the requested configuration and a connection field indicating all locations to which the component to be used in the requested configuration is to be connected; and
(c) applying the configuration model to the abstract assembly steps provided for assembling the product by inserting component information from the component information lines into the variable parameters of the variable portions of the abstract assembly steps to produce one or more assembly instructions for assembling the product to have the requested configuration. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method, performed by a computer, for assembling a product having components, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing one or more abstract assembly steps for assembling the product, the abstract assembly steps containing variable portions for assembling the product with potentially different configurations, the variable portions including variable parameters capable of representing different component information;
(b) obtaining a configuration model corresponding to a requested configuration of the product, the configuration model including one or more of the component information lines corresponding to one or more components utilized in the requested configuration; and
(c) applying the configuration model to the abstract assembly steps provided for assembling the product by inserting component information from the component information lines into the variable parameters of the variable portions of the abstract assembly steps to produce one or more assembly instructions for assembling the product to have the requested configuration. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification