System for analyzing and improving pharmaceutical and other capital-intensive manufacturing processes
First Claim
1. A system for analyzing manufacturing process data to identify manufacturing process components affecting characteristics of a product produced by a manufacturing process, the system comprising:
- a plurality of data stores holding a plurality of records containing process data, each record associated with at least one of the process components;
a virtual database engine coupled to the plurality of data stores;
a user interface enabling a user to select records from within the data stores;
a proxy virtual database created by the virtual database engine, the proxy database comprising copies of the selected records;
a statistical analysis engine operatively coupled to the proxy virtual database to apply statistical analysis operations to the selected records within the proxy database and identify process components or combinations of process components having a significant effect on the characteristics of the product produced;
a first graphical interface component displaying a two-dimensional relationship between process components or groups of process components and characteristics of the product produced indicating directionality and extent of correlation between the identified process components and the characteristics of the product produced; and
a second graphical interface component enabling display of at least three dimensional relationships indicating directionality and extent of correlation between the identified process components and the characteristics of the product produced.
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Abstract
A method for displaying a visual process signature for ready visual recognition and communication of otherwise complex manufacturing process information. Process data may be stored in a plurality of data stores, each data store holding a plurality of records containing process data, each record associated with at least one process component. A proxy virtual database is created from copies of records selected from the data stores. Statistical analysis operations are applied to the selected records within the proxy virtual database to identify process components or combinations of process components having a significant effect on characteristics of a product produced as well as the magnitude of that effect. At least three characteristics of the identified process components including the outcome of the statistical analysis operations are selected and visually displayed in a static or animated three-dimensional representation shown on a two-dimensional display. The visual display indicates the directionality and the extent of the selected characteristics of the selected process components in relation to the selected characteristics of the product produced.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A system for analyzing manufacturing process data to identify manufacturing process components affecting characteristics of a product produced by a manufacturing process, the system comprising:
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a plurality of data stores holding a plurality of records containing process data, each record associated with at least one of the process components;
a virtual database engine coupled to the plurality of data stores;
a user interface enabling a user to select records from within the data stores;
a proxy virtual database created by the virtual database engine, the proxy database comprising copies of the selected records;
a statistical analysis engine operatively coupled to the proxy virtual database to apply statistical analysis operations to the selected records within the proxy database and identify process components or combinations of process components having a significant effect on the characteristics of the product produced;
a first graphical interface component displaying a two-dimensional relationship between process components or groups of process components and characteristics of the product produced indicating directionality and extent of correlation between the identified process components and the characteristics of the product produced; and
a second graphical interface component enabling display of at least three dimensional relationships indicating directionality and extent of correlation between the identified process components and the characteristics of the product produced. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for displaying a visual process signature for ready visual recognition and communication of process data, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing process data in a plurality of data stores, each data store holding a plurality of records containing process data, each record associated with at least one process component;
selecting records from within the plurality of data stores;
creating a proxy virtual database comprising copies of the selected records;
applying statistical analysis operations to the selected records within the proxy virtual database to identify process components or combinations of components having a significant effect on characteristics of a product produced, selecting at least three characteristics of the identified process components; and
visually displaying process data associated with the three selected characteristics in a three-dimensional representation displayed on a two-dimensional display, the visual display indicating directionality and extent of the characteristics of the selected process components in relation to the selected characteristics of the product produced. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for producing a visual process signature representing a manufacturing process, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a data source holding groups of data, each group representing process parameters of a manufacturing process;
selecting at least three characteristics of the groups of data;
generating a plurality of display frames, where each display frame represents the selected characteristics of a particular group of data in a three-dimensional representation; and
visually displaying the generated display frames in a sequential fashion to present an animated visual process signature to a user. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
displaying data from the data source in each frame so that the displayed position on the first axis is derived from the magnitude of the corresponding parameter;
displaying the data from the data source so that the data'"'"'s position on the second axis comprises a name for the parameter; and
displaying the data from the data source so that the data'"'"'s position on the third axis comprises a group statistic of the selected data in the corresponding group of data.
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17. The method of claim 16 wherein the group statistic is selected from the group consisting of:
- group mean, group range, group standard deviation, group relative standard deviation;
group variance;
group maximum;
group minimum;
group principle component regression loading;
group correlation coefficient; and
group P value.
- group mean, group range, group standard deviation, group relative standard deviation;
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18. The method of claim 16 wherein the visually displaying further comprises:
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selecting one of the parameter names as represented on the second axis;
ordering the frames from highest to lowest according to the value of the data corresponding to the selected parameter name on the first axis; and
displaying the sequence in a sequential fashion determined from the ordering step.
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19. The method of claim 18 wherein the selected parameter is indicated using a color distinct from the non-selected parameters during the displaying step.
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20. The method of claim 16 wherein the visually displaying further comprises:
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ordering the frames on a data group-by-data group basis according to a relative time at which the data in each of the data groups was gathered; and
displaying the sequence in a sequential fashion determined from the ordering step.
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21. The method of claim 16 wherein the visually displaying further comprises:
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selecting one of the parameter names as represented on the second axis;
determining a group having a best performance for the selected parameter;
determining a group having a worst performance for the selected parameter;
ordering the frames from highest to lowest according to a difference between the best and word performance of the selected process parameter; and
displaying the sequence in a sequential fashion determined from the ordering step.
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22. The method of claim 15 wherein the displaying is performed on a two-dimensional display, the visual display indicating directionality and extent of the characteristics of the selected process components in relation to the selected characteristics of the product produced.
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23. The method of claim 15 wherein the groups of data correspond to data associated with groups of production batches within the manufacturing process.
Specification